You've reached your article limit

Subscribe now to continue reading the Arkansas Times

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Update: Easter Seal land deal

UPDATE on the proposal to buy the old Easter Seals facility and 10 acres at the east end of Lee Avenue from the state School for the Blind and School for the Deaf:

A straw vote taken by the schools' board Tuesday indicates the proposal is a no-go. They acted after a resident of Hillcrest spoke against the sale, expressing concerns that once the property was in private ownership, it could be developed, despite promises by the would-be buyers that they would not alter the property.

Drs. Leslie Smith and Tad Tillemans, psychiatrists who lease office space in the former Easter Seals facility, wanted to buy the 10 acres and the building for $700,000. Easter Seals head Sharon Moone-Jochums presented the offer to the board; her agency is eager to sell the building, which is outdated and in need of repairs. (Easter Seals only owns the building; it leases the state land beneath it.) Moone-Jochums maintained the land was too steep to develop, but a previous (unsuccessful) bid by a Hillcrest developer would have built condos in the ravine.

President Andrew Tolbert said the board, which voted 4 against, with one abstention from a new member, does not want the schools to lose control of the property. “It’s a critical buffer,” he said. The land is bordered by the Coolwood neighborhood on the north and homes near Knoop Park on the west.

Smith and Tillemans’ Aavalon Clinic is a joint venture with Aavalon Mortgage, which also operates out of the former Easter Seals facility. Tolbert said the board was unaware of the mortgage business.

Comments (6)

More by Max Brantley

Vincent Tolliver, a candidate for Little Rock, mayor, has written legislators asking the Senate Education Committee to ask Education Commissioner Johnny Key to testify about problems encountered by parents on Monday, the first day of school in the state-run Little Rock School District.

Speaking of Donald Trump and in answer to a reader's question: There will be a women's march in Arkansas on Jan. 21, the day after inauguration, as well as the national march planned in Washington.

It was not even 24 hours ago that Sophia Said, director of the Interfaith Center; City Director Kathy Webb and others decided to organize a protest today of Donald Trump's executive order that has left people from Muslim countries languishing in airports or unable to come to the US at all — people with visas, green cards,a post-doc graduate student en route to Harvard, Google employees abroad, families. I got the message today before noon; others didn't find out until it was going on. But however folks found out, they turned out in huge numbers, more than thousand men, women and children, on the grounds of the state Capitol to listen to speakers from all faiths and many countries.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson and 2nd District U.S. Rep. French Hill have refused to participate in TV debates scheduled in September.

Chintan Desai, the Democratic candidate for 1st District Congress, just dropped by with some news: An endorsement, a debate date and a celebrity visitor for his Republican incumbent opponent, Rep. Rick Crawford.

A lawsuit was filed today in the federal court for the District of Columbia challenging Arkansas's work requirement for many Medicaid recipients.

Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights legend, will visit Little Rock Sunday afternoon for a fund-raiser for state Rep. Clarke Tucker, the Democratic candidate for 2nd District Congress against Republican Rep. French Hill.